Attempts have been made to waterproof handcoverings, for gloves made of leather or fabric which are not waterproof. Gloves can be waterproofed by providing a waterproof lining or insert inside the outer shell layer of the glove. Frequently, for added comfort, the waterproof lining is usually also permeable to water vapor, i.e., it is breathable. This waterproof insert is sometimes referred to as a functional layer or material, it can be made a) of functional layer alone or b) made of a two-layer laminate comprised of a functional layer material and a cloth lining or textile backing or c) made of a three-layer material which is made of the functional layer material, the inner textile layer end a textile backing. For a comfortable feeling on the skin either there is a stitched together cloth lining inside the insert, or the inner textile layer of t he laminate is made of lining material. For easy and cost efficient production, these inserts usually consist of two counter equal, flat pieces of the functional layer or laminate which are sealed along the edge. The pattern has the shape of a two dimensional oversized hand.
Gloves comprising a shell and an insert that contains a functional layer are known. The said two dimensional pattern of the insert can not be brought into the three-dimensional shape of the glove shell without being folded somehow. In insulated gloves this is a minor problem since the additional insulation between the functional insert and the in this case thick cloth lining prevents the wearer from perceiving the folds.
In thin, non-insulated gloves which are tailored close to the shape of the hand the folds of the insert lead to substantial disadvantages. They can disturbingly be perceived by the wearer. The folds are not attached to each other thus giving the hand some slip within the glove which may be dangerous for the wearer in activities needing a good grip. Furthermore, they reduce the tactility by the added thickness what is crucial for activities needing a fine sensation. Furthermore, they increase the resistance of the glove to heat and moisture transfer, which is not wanted in gloves worn in warmer ambient conditions. Examples for such gloves are gloves for working, for motorcycling, and for golf.
A lot of attempts have been made to overcome these deficiencies. An example is U.S. Pat. No. 5,442,818 in which a three-dimensional shaped lining inside and a two dimensional, folded up insert made out of a laminate are joined in a “slip-proof” fashion with an adhesive thus leading to a three-dimensional inner glove. The folds of the two dimensional insert between the cloth lining and the shell are tolerated by covering them behind a three-dimensional shaped sewn lining. However, the system does not solve the problem of bulkiness and of high resistances for heat and moisture transfer. This is due to the many layers which are created by the still existing insert folds.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,255,716 is another patent that describes a two-layered material, namely a puckered functional or barrier layer adhered to a second extendable fabric layer, which two-layered material is then secured to an outer extendable fabric layer with an adhesive. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,255,716, the fabric layer is stretchable and is adhered in a manner that results in bunching up of the functional layer. This results in unnecessary thickness of the compounded layers. Hence, the resistance to heat and moisture transfere is not minimized. The added insulation value has even been mentioned by U.S. Pat. No. 5,255,716 as benefit which is only true when insulation is a wished property of the glove (page 13 line 28ff). Also, the elasticity of the wrinkles combined with the thickness of the wrinkled layer reduces the tactility perceivably.
Furthermore, U.S. Pat. No. 5,255,716 claims non elastic glove shells made e.g. from leather. However, with the described process it is not possible to make such a glove since the shell has to be drawn over a flat two dimensional former, which is formed in a way that requires extreme elasticity of the shell since the opening of the glove needs to stretched to fit over the wider fingerpart (page 47 line 3 ff). This is an inherent problem of the procedure and can not be solved by a change of the flat two dimensional former since the added circumferences of the fingers are larger than the circumference of the hand in the palm area and, therefore, the former has always to be wider at the fingers than at the palm area to completely stretch the whole glove, which is in the described procedure necessary to be able to adhere the glove over the complete surface.